Baked galette brings smell of fall into kitchen

There’s nothing like coming home from work and finding a basket of apples on your front step. A friend dropped them off recently, gifts from her prolific apple tree. When I called to thank her, she asked if I could take some more. Detecting a note of panic in her voice, I happily said yes.

There’s nothing like coming home from work and finding a basket of apples on your front step. A friend dropped them off recently, gifts from her prolific apple tree. When I called to thank her, she asked if I could take some more. Detecting a note of panic in her voice, I happily said yes.

They were beautiful apples; sweet, juicy and delicious. So there I was with about 40 pounds of apples, making my house smell like an orchard. Now I began to panic. While these are tasty eaten out of hand, one can only eat so many apples. I soon began pawning them off on friends who invited me over for dinner and my cousin who helped set up my new computer. They, too, were happy to get the apples. Full circle, see?

Those left behind I tucked into my crisper for snacking or baking with later. This past weekend I canned about four quarts of spiced apple butter. Slathered on a scone, it’s glorious stuff. And last but not least, this tart happened.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love pie. I adore pie. But sometimes you just don’t feel like all that rolling and fluting and double crusting. That’s why I love the rustic simplicity of galettes. The pressure to be pretty and perfect is off. Simply roll out your pastry, spread it with an almond paste, top with sliced and spiced apples, fold over the edges and that’s it. Bingo bango you are done.

When it’s almost finished baking, dollop some ridiculously delicious dulce de leche on top and let it bake some more. It adds the richness of caramel, without actually having to make caramel. I seasoned my apples with star anise, cardamom and cinnamon, but feel free to substitute nutmeg, cloves and allspice if that is more to your liking.

I encourage you to inhale deeply as the galette bakes; the smell of fall is clear and true. I also encourage you to serve this with a scoop or two of good vanilla ice cream while it is still warm. Oooh la la. Just between you and me, it makes a darn fine breakfast, too. Just add a scoop or two of plain yogurt, if you have an issue with guilt.

Apple and Almond Galette with Dulce de Leche

Pastry:

1 12 cups all purpose flour

12 tsp salt

12 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cubed 1 large egg

3­4 tbsp ice cold water

1 large egg white

3 tbsp powdered sugar 4 tbsp ground almonds

4 tbsp melted butter 12 tsp almond extract

3 apples peeled, cored and thinly sliced 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

3 tsp lemon zest

1 tsp ground star anise

12 tsp ground cinnamon 12 tsp ground cardamom 14 tsp salt

2 tbsp cane sugar

4 tsp unsalted butter

5 Tbsp Dulce de Leche

Instructions:

To prepare pastry, in a large bowl stir together flour and salt. Cut in cubed butter until pea-­sized bits remain. In a measuring cup, beat together the egg and ice water. Make a well in the flour mixture and dump in the egg. Stir with a fork until it comes together in a shaggy ball. Add more ice water if needed. Lightly dust counter with flour and shape the pastry into a ball. Cut in half and shape each half into a disc. Wrap in plastic and chill for one hour. Only need one disc of pastry for this recipe. Freeze the other half for another use.

In a small bowl, whisk egg white and powdered sugar together until frothy. Stir in ground almonds, melted butter and almond extract. Refrigerate while preparing rest of recipe.

In a large bowl, stir together apples, lemon juice, zest, spices and salt. Be sure spices are evenly coated on apples.

Preheat oven to 375 F.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry to a 12 inch diameter circle. Fold in half and carefully place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Spread almond cream over pastry, leaving a 1 inch border. Arrange apple slices in a concentric circle (you may have a few left over). Sprinkle with cane sugar and dot with butter. Fold edges over apples and bake for 30-­35 minutes (until crust is golden brown) on the middle rack of your oven. Remove from oven and dollop the Dulce de Leche on top of apples. Return to oven for another 5 minutes. Remove, and using a pastry brush gently spread the melted Dulce de Leche evenly around apples. Let it rest on baking sheet for 10 minutes, then let it cool on a wire rack. Makes 6 servings.

This Week's Flyers

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.